Development of a Novel High Head Impulse Hydro Turbine

George Aggidis (), Audrius Židonis, Luke Burtenshaw, Marc Dubois, Stephen Orritt, Dominic Pickston, George Prigov and Luke Wilmot
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George Aggidis: School of Engineering, Lancaster University, Lancaster LA1 4YW, UK
Audrius Židonis: School of Engineering, Lancaster University, Lancaster LA1 4YW, UK
Luke Burtenshaw: School of Engineering, Lancaster University, Lancaster LA1 4YW, UK
Marc Dubois: School of Engineering, Lancaster University, Lancaster LA1 4YW, UK
Stephen Orritt: School of Engineering, Lancaster University, Lancaster LA1 4YW, UK
Dominic Pickston: School of Engineering, Lancaster University, Lancaster LA1 4YW, UK
George Prigov: School of Engineering, Lancaster University, Lancaster LA1 4YW, UK
Luke Wilmot: School of Engineering, Lancaster University, Lancaster LA1 4YW, UK

Sustainability, 2023, vol. 16, issue 1, 1-17

Abstract: The Pelton turbine has been widely regarded as the most efficient hydro turbine for high-head applications. However, the Pelton turbine buckets, especially the area commonly referred to as the ‘splitter’, are highly susceptible to erosion, drastically reducing efficiency over prolonged periods of time. This paper demonstrates a novel turbine idea that has been validated through both computational and experimental methods. This turbine addresses the issues associated with the erosion of the splitter through a redesign of the Pelton turbine to remove the need for a splitter and therefore potentially reducing downtime due to maintenance. The computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulation results show that the turbine is capable of efficiencies greater than 82% with room for further improvement. The practical experimental results also show efficiencies within 6% of an optimized Pelton turbine. The results from this study indicate that through further optimization this turbine design could provide a means to produce power outputs similar to conventional Pelton turbines, with the added benefit of lower maintenance costs.

Keywords: renewable energy; hydropower; hydro turbines; Pelton turbine (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
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